Faces of breast cancer: From despair to delivering a miracle

ROCKFORD — Kimberly Franklin's before-and-after photos from her battle seven years ago with breast cancer are shocking to some.

"I just loved my hair," said Franklin, a 43-year-old mother of four. "I was still getting my hair done even after my treatments started."

But like most who go through chemotherapy, her hair fell out and it grew back unevenly at first.

"I started liking it really short, and now I don't have any intentions of growing it back," she said. "When people ask why I'm so bold I say 'Honey, you have no idea.' "

Franklin actually was pregnant with her third daughter when she went to see a doctor because she felt a lump.

"The doctor told me it had been there awhile, but since I was pregnant it was easier to spot because it was feeding off estrogen," said Franklin, who has been married to her husband, Richard, for 16 years. He works at the substance abuse treatment center Rosecrance. "If I hadn't gotten pregnant I might not have known for a lot longer," said Franklin.

The cancer was stage 1 and all the medical personnel were confident a lumpectomy would be successful. She underwent surgery in November 2006. Still, Franklin worried.

"I sat there thinking, 'Am I going to die?' " she said. "The nurse was telling me about all the treatments and how we caught it early, but to me she sounded like Charlie Brown's teacher — 'wa, wa, wa.' I was trying to process everything, but I was stunned."

Franklin admits she wasn't the best patient. She didn't always take her meds, and she wasn't that pleasant to those trying to help her.

"My sister told me to stop being so horrible to those doctors and nurses. They know what I'm going through."

Franklin credits her family, including her church family at St. Paul Church of God in Christ, with keeping her spirits up through the hair loss, mouth sores and vomiting that came with the eight rounds of chemotherapy.

"My pastor, Bishop James Washington, told me God is a healer and he will see me through this journey. Keep the faith," Franklin said.

The lumpectomy was successful and there has been no reoccurrence. And then Richard and Kimberly received their own little miracle. After having three daughters, now ages 15, 11 and eight, Franklin got pregnant and had a boy, who now is four years old.

"They always tell you after cancer you probably won't have any more kids," said Franklin, who is a stay-at-home mom. "My doctor said she never had a (pregnant) patient who was a breast cancer survivor, but we got blessed."

Alex Gary; 815-987-1339; agary@rrstar.com; @alexpgary

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